


Cures for Insomnia

by isnt_that_wizard



Series: We'll Always Be More Than A Band (JATP) [11]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Has Anxiety (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex can't sleep, Bonding, Family Feels, Fluff, Good Friend Julie Molina, Happy, Insomnia, Julie is a gem of a human being and I love her, Literal Sleeping Together, Luke and Reggie love Alex, No Angst, Platonic Cuddling, Protective Julie Molina, Protective Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Protective Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), but his friends are there for him!!, everyone loves alex, for once in my life, minor mention of bad parents but it's for a second, nothing but fluff, so does Julie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:48:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27335188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isnt_that_wizard/pseuds/isnt_that_wizard
Summary: Julie just stared at him blankly for a while. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, really. It could have been seconds, it could have been minutes. However long it was, it had Luke shifting under her gaze, looking uncomfortable.“You,” Julie started slowly. “You came into my room, and you woke me up at four in the morning. . . to cuddle?”Luke, at least, finally had the decency to look sheepish.“Um. . . yes?”---------The boys aren't having the easiest of nights getting to sleep, so Luke thinks he has the perfect solution. Cuddle piles and Found Family ensue!
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina, Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina & Luke Patterson
Series: We'll Always Be More Than A Band (JATP) [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956307
Comments: 32
Kudos: 500





	Cures for Insomnia

At first, Julie just thought it was part of her dream. It was weird, to go from a dream of her and Flynn messing around in dance class to the feeling of someone shaking her, but her brain was trying to just roll with it. She was boarding on the line between awake and asleep, and Julie was determined to hang on to sleep. Someone clearly had a different plan. 

Julie clenched her eyes shut, groaning into her pillow a little as she felt herself shake more. 

“Julie!” someone whispered. 

She tried to ignore it, desperately hoping it was just her mind being annoying. God, all she wanted was some peaceful sleep. 

“Oh, come  _ on _ , Jules. How hard of a sleeper can you be?” the voice came again, still in a whisper at least. 

Julie let out a long breath, frowning as her dream slipped further and further away from her. No chance of holding onto it now she knew as she was shaken once more. She recognized the feeling of weight on her arm now, a hand holding onto her. Julie rolled over on her memory foam mattress- which was calling her to sink back into it and fall back asleep- now laying on her back. The hand on her arm slipped away as she did, and she could feel how the mattress dipped a little with the weight of someone sitting on the edge of it next to her. 

“What do you want, Luke?” Julie whined, reaching up to rub at her eyes. She blinked them open, trying to focus on the shape of the ghost in the dark of her bedroom. She could just make out his outline as she turned her head to look at him with as sharp of a glare as her sleep-addled brain could muster. 

“Oh, great, you’re awake! Jesus, Jules, I thought maybe you were dead or something.”

She could hear the teasing tone in his voice, but she couldn’t even try to comprehend a sarcastic response back. Luke sounded so  _ awake _ , like it was midday and he’d been up for hours already. A glance at her bedside clock told her it was 3:42 in the morning. There was absolutely no reason for Luke’s energy right now. She knew, thought, that if she tried to just ignore him and fall right back into sleep, he’d just shake her awake again. With a sigh, she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, clicking on her bedside lamp. She squinted her eyes as they adjusted to the brightness, taking in the full view of Luke now. 

He at least looked tired- his shirt was rumpled like he’d been sleeping in it, and his hair was somehow even more of a mess than it usually was. His awake tone was betrayed by the darkened circles under his eyes- because ghosts could get those. Ghosts apparently needed just as much sleep as humans. It was the only bodily function they had seemed to retain after death- they didn’t need food or water and didn’t get hungry or thirsty, they had no needs for bathrooms, and they couldn’t be physically hurt. But sleep, they’d discovered, the boys definitely still needed. 

They’d all been staying on the pull out couch in the garage at night. Julie had told them that they could probably get a new mattress or two so the three of them didn’t always have to squish themselves onto the small queen the couch turned into, but Luke, Reggie, and Alex kept insisting that they were just fine. 

Despite Luke’s tired appearance, his eyes were vibrant and shining as they always were when he was awake. Julie’s half-asleep brain took note that this meant he’d probably been up for a while now. He was giving her a soft smile as she frowned at him, slumped against her pillows. She knew she had probably never looked worse while talking to one of the boys, but absolutely no part of her could muster up the willingness to care at this point. 

“ _ What  _ do you  _ want,  _ Luke,” she repeated, keeping her voice quiet so she wouldn’t wake Carlos in the next room over. 

Luke smiled a little wider, but he developed an almost nervous look to him as he shifted so he was sitting with his legs crisscrossed at the foot of her bed. 

“Right, um. So,” he fiddled with the string endings of the tie blanket Flynn had made her, “Alex is having a lot of trouble sleeping? It happens a lot, actually. And normally- normally just sleeping with Reggie and me helps a lot, and we like- cuddle him or whatever- but it’s not working tonight. He’s super restless, and I thought- since just me and Reg aren’t helping, maybe all four of us would be better? It might calm him down if you were there, too. So. . . yeah.”

Julie just stared at him blankly for a while. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, really. It could have been seconds, it could have been minutes. However long it was, it had Luke shifting under her gaze, looking uncomfortable. 

“You,” Julie started slowly. “You came into my room, and you woke me up at four in the morning. . . to cuddle?”

Luke, at least, finally had the decency to look sheepish. 

“Um. . . yes?”

Julie shook her head, laughing to herself under her breath. It was, by far, the most ridiculous reason she could think of having been woken up for in her life. Yet, she thought back to what Luke had said. She knew that Alex’s anxiety frequently got the better of him, and that it interfered with everyday life more than the ghost was willing to admit. She also knew enough about Alex’s parents to know that they had always thought their son was being overdramatic when he was stressed or anxious, and that they were likely the cause of most of his anxious nature. They had never been concerned enough about their son to do something like take him to a doctor, so most of the time, Luke and Reggie had been Alex’s form of medication. 

Over the months since they fell into her life, she’d seen the two guitarists talk Alex down from more than one panic attack, distract him from whatever was stressing him out, and read him like an open book when he was even just a little bit off. Julie had started picking up on Alex’s mannerisms, too, but she was too worried about doing the wrong thing to try and help Alex through something yet. Here sat Luke, though, openly inviting her in to be the same form of comfort to their brother that he and Reggie were. 

Luke was staring at her with a silent question and hope in his eyes. 

“All right,” she sighed. “Go get the other two.”

Luke just stared at her for a minute. “What?”

“What? My bed is way more comfortable than the garage, and I’m not accidentally waking up my dad and having to explain why I’m going to sleep somewhere that is not my big, warm, comfortable bed.”

Luke was smiling brightly at her, a silent thank you radiating off him in waves. “Yeah?”

Julie rolled her eyes, “ _ Yes. _ Now will you please just go get Reggie and Alex so I can go back to bed? I do still have school in the morning.”

Luke’s smile was blindingly bright as he nodded, poofing out without another word. Julie sighed, leaning back against her pillows. In all honesty, even if this wasn’t for Alex, she probably would have given in. Ever since she gained the ability to touch the boys, she loved wrapping them or herself in a hug, holding their hands, or leaning into them on the couch. Snuggling up with all three of them sounded so incredibly  _ comfortable _ right now. 

It only took a minute before Luke reappeared, the other two in tow as they all stood at the foot of her bed. Reggie looked flat out exhausted, wrapped up in a sweatshirt that was far too big for him- probably Alex’s- and holding onto the drummer’s hand in comfort. Alex looked restless and tired, too, but he was also shrinking in on himself, looking at Julie with embarrassment written all over him. 

“Jules, I’m so sorry-” 

She cut him off with a wave of her hand, shaking her head. “Alex, don’t worry about it. Anything you guys need, I’m here for you, okay?”

His shy demeanor melted a little bit, and he shot her a grateful smile. Julie didn’t miss how Luke elbowed Alex a little bit, rolling his eyes as he mumbled, “Told you so.”

Julie scooted over so she was more in the middle of the bed, then held her hand out to Alex. The drummer took it, allowing Julie to pull him so he was sat next to her in the center of the bed. She just nodded her head to Reggie and Luke, a silent invitation for them to join. It was going to be a tight squeeze to have all four of them on the bed together, but at this point all four of them were determined to make it happen. Luke slipped in next to Julie, shutting off the lamp as he did so, and Reggie moved in behind Alex. In order to make them all fit, the four of them all turned so they were on the sides, Julie and Luke facing towards the inside of the bed and Reggie and Alex mirroring them. Julie pushed forward, snuggling into Alex’s chest. With their differences in heights, Julie’s head fit perfectly tucked under Alex’s chin. She took Alex’s hand from where it was laying in the minor bit of space between them. Reggie wrapped an arm around Alex’s middle, essentially spooning the taller boy. Luke threw his arm over Julie to reach Alex, resting his hand on Alex’s elbow and squeezing it lightly. It was a blanket of heat over all four of them, pressed comfortably together. For the three of them being ghosts, they gave off a lot of warmth.

In their holds, Alex’s body released so much tension that Julie could physically feel the difference. He sighed out, sounding relaxed. Julie squeezed his hand in hers, and she felt him repeat the gesture a moment later. 

“Thank you, guys,” Alex said so quietly that if it weren’t for the silence, all four of them would have missed it. 

“Any time, man” Reggie said back as the same time Luke responded with “Of course.” 

Julie just snuggled in closer, feeling Luke follow her, whispering to the drummer in front her, “Love you, Alex.”

She felt a kiss to the top of her head, and she smiled as she let her eyes fall shut once again. The warmth and comfort of having her three boys all right there was better than any lullaby, she pondered silently. Sleep was easily creeping back up on her, and she relaxed more and more into the pillows. 

Just as she thought finally drifted off, she heard Reggie’s voice fill the air in a murmur. 

“We should do this more often,” his low, quiet voice washed over her. 

Before Julie could even respond with her agreement, sleep overtook her. The four of them all passed into blissful rest like that, simply enjoying the feeling of being together. 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope everyone had a good Halloween!! To celebrate my favorite day of the year, I rewatched the show. Ended up being a pretty damn good day, honestly. 
> 
> Here's a wonderful piece of fluff that I've had in the back of my bed for over a month now and finally actually sat down to write!! I thought this was cute, and I hope you do, too!! 
> 
> Thanks so much for all the love you all have been sending my way, and I'll see you for my next post on Wednesday <3<3<3


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